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What Public Speaking Without Fear Looks Like

Lily Iatridis — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:37:34 +0000

For many people, when it comes to public speaking, they experience fear either before or during the presentation. Sometimes they're feeling fine during the presentation, then something unexpected happens like an equipment failure or a disruption from the audience, and their fear rears up it's ugly head and takes over their thoughts.

Suddenly the situation is out of their control! But how do you control the unexpected?

Well, obviously, you can't. The unexpected will occur, and you as the speaker, will need to handle it.

But how do you do that without fear, if public speaking fear has been an issue for you? We all know it's various manifestations: stiffness, mind going blank, sweating, stomach upset, shaky voice, and so on. Many of us have seen it in ourselves at some point, as well as in others during their presentations. It's an involuntary reaction that you may feel you have no power over.

What if you could just skip all that fear stuff altogether and move right on into creative problem solving?

Let me tell you a story about a scary experience I once had where I completely surprised myself by reacting without fear. As many of you know, I study a self-defensive martial art called aikido. In aikido, we study ukemi, or the art of falling (safely). There's a lot of throwing involved in aikido, so we train ukemi a lot.

I was at the aquarium with my family, holding my then 2 year old, when I took a fall off of some steps that led to another exhibit section. The floor was black at a narrow entryway, I was playing with the baby, and I had no idea the steps were there until I was already past the point of no return.

I had about a full second before I hit the floor with my full weight on top of the baby.

Oddly enough, when I realized we were falling, I didn't feel any fear at all. No panic or terror over hurting the little one. I hadn't trained aikido in about a year, but my ukemi skills kicked right in.

I felt that I had all the time in the world I needed to use ukemi to reposition myself underneath him before hitting the floor, and I did. We landed, and the baby just thought we'd done some fun trick. He picked up no tension at all from me. My husband had been busily reorganizing the stroller basket and didn't even notice anything was awry until he looked up and saw us on the floor surrounded by aquarium staff and other visitors, picking us up and checking to make sure we were ok.

So what does all that have to do with fearless public speaking?

With skills and training, you can be ready for the unexpected.

The more training and experience you have, the better you'll prepared to respond to the unexpected with a constructive solution that solves the problem in seconds and minimizes the disruption to your public speaking experience. You'll have a wider repertoire of strategies and tactics to apply to a problem, and with more experience, several options will come to you in seconds, and you'll be able to decide which to use quickly.

When something you hadn't planned on occurs, don't try to control the situation. Instead, flow with it.

Flexibility is key here. You can't anticipate how things are going to turn out. What you can do is stay loose, adjust quickly to the circumstances at hand, and come up with creative constructive solutions to get things back on track. If you let yourself get locked down by public speaking fear, you lose the ability to solve problems and lead your group.

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Lily Iatridis of Fearless Delivery, has a proven track record and knows the key elements in effective and engaging presentation. Her expertise is in supporting professionals to get their message expressed clearly to deliver the biggest results in their live and online presentations. Secrets and strategies such as "how-to" shortcuts, personalized instruction and even packaging the presentation are just some of the skill sets that Lily brings to her audience to create a fearless and effective delivery.

If you've ever been nervous in front of an audience, please sign up for Lily's free 5-part video series titled, "Your Energetic Elevator Pitch Everyone Will Want to Hear!" This free video series will not only help you to get over any nervous jitters about speaking at networking events, but your message will be clear, you will deliver with confidence, and you'll distinguish yourself from your competition effectively.

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How to Stop Public Speaking Fear From Creeping Back Into Your Head

Lily Iatridis — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 10:00:38 +0000

So I was in the backyard of the house we moved into last August, doing a little yardwork for the very first time, while thinking about today's article on public speaking fear. The back of the house is mostly uncleared woods, but there's about a 30 foot area where someone once planted some flowers. We could spot a few stems sprouting, including some forsythia and daffodil blossoms.

But they were all getting smothered by a huge layer of ivy that's overtaken the entire yard! We actually worked for three hours to clear merely a 15 x 15 foot wide overgrown patio area yesterday afternoon. Not only that, but we were pulling ivy down from behind the siding of the house — it was (and probably still is) growing up behind our house's exterior wall.

What if we left the growth of the ivy unchecked? Our house would start to look like that in the picture above. Doesn't the picture appear as if there are even some windows buried completely by the ivy?

Aren't speaking fears — or any fear for that matter — like that too?

They can really creep up on you if you're not careful.

And when they start creeping in on your thinking, it's important not to underestimate them. They're insidious, and they'll undermine your hard earned speaking confidence.

How do you keep those fears from creeping back in and taking over?

Speak in public regularly.

Once you've taken on public speaking, whether it's to advance your reputation, your career, position your expertise in the marketplace, or for your own personal growth, it's important that you get regular practice. This doesn't require preparing and giving an hour long speech every week. Simply go to a networking event every month and deliver your elevator pitch to a dozen or more people. Prepare a video clip to post to your website or on Youtube. Give a teleseminar for your customers. Challenge yourself to maintain your hard earned skills and experience. Don't let the cobwebs come in, because with them creeps in the fear that challenges and can undermine your self-confidence.

Remember your why.

Why did you take up public speaking to begin with? Review your goals. Clarify them if necessary by asking yourself repeatedly why those goals are important to you. If your goals aren't specific enough, make them specific. What is it that you want to achieve? Without a clear idea of why you initially undertook what for many is a terrifying experience feared more than death, there's no reason to start in the first place. Public speaking is a means to an end. Make sure you define yours clearly.

Keep the negative self-talk at bay.

Starting to hear those voices in your head telling you "not to" or "you can't"? Here's an exercise for you to try. Write down everything they're saying to you. Get it all out of your head, onto the paper. Then take a breath, sit back and take an objective look at what you've written. Ask yourself, "Is this all that I am?" The answer should be no. Come on, you know you're more than the sum of your fears. Then ask yourself, "Who am I?" Now write that down, and keep it.

Negative self-talk is a form of resistance and can be incredibly powerful. It hits everyone who moves out of their comfort zone in some way to "reach for the moon" so to speak like a hammer and can be completely paralyzing. Whenever I'm feeling like this, in addition to using the strategies above, I flip through Steven Pressfield's The War of Art to take some comfort in reading about the incredible resistance he faced and overcame in his career. Below is one of his observations on resistance that is especially insightful:

" Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of oil, Resistance will unfailingly point to true North — meaning that call or action it most wants to stop us from doing. We can use this. We can use it as a compass. We can navigate by Resistance, letting it guide us to that calling or action that we must follow before all others. Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more Resistance we will feel toward pursuing it. "

It's nice to know when you're on the right track, isn't it?

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Define Your Expertise in 3 Simple Steps

Lily Iatridis — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 09:48:00 +0000

Last night I had a great conversation with Susan Preston and Deborah Turton of "Being Fabulous and Fifty."

They told me something that hadn't occurred to me at all:

There are a lot of uniquely talented people out there who completely underestimate themselves! They have expertise that would be useful to many, but they don't really acknowledge it or seriously consider sharing it with others.

Could you be one of them?

Are you hiding yourself and your expertise from the world?

You're not alone!

Everyone out there has dreams, and many have dreams unfulfilled. Have you dared to consider pursuing yours? An increasing amount of people out there now are pursuing their dreams by starting their own businesses or trying a new hobby or project on for size, whether they're in multi-level marketing, copywriting, in fitness, selling some sort of product or service, and so on. Congratulations to them all!

But sometimes, we only have a feeling, a hint of something bigger inside ourselves that should come out, but we're not that clear on what it is. If you feel this may be you, let's explore further by answering a few questions. If you feel you know your area of expertise, these questions will help you clarify your purpose.

What comes wildly easy to you that's difficult for others?

A client once asked me to work with their daughter to help her prepare for a class election speech. She was running for senior class president, and she'd never done anything like that before. It was a big stretch for her. I could see that she was a basically a self-assured young lady. She just needed to spend an hour or two practicing with an adult who treated her like an adult to add an extra edge to her confidence. It was easy for me to help her, she won her election, and her parents tell me how I completely changed her life. At the time, I privately felt like I was stealing their money because I had done so little work.

What do you do that feels like you've barely done any work, or "lifted a finger" yet makes a big impact on others? Can you remember experiences you've had that are similiar to the one I just described? That's an big indicator of your unique expertise that you should be sharing with others.

What do you care about?

Your values, the things that you care about most deeply will determine how you'll use your unique talents. What if you were to use your skill to create something that you hated or were indifferent toward? That wouldn't be very rewarding or inspiring to you, correct? Once you've identified your unique talent, consider the things you care about the most and how the two may match up to serve others.

What drives you absolutely bonkers?

Sometimes finding how you want to manifest and present your expertise to the world can hinge on this point. What drives you crazy about the industry or area you care about? That's where you can pull away from the rest of the crowd and express yourself in a unique manner. You'll also have passion and fire about the subject.

What's the negative self-talk that comes up when you start sharing this expertise with others, or positioning yourself as the expert?

A common form of negative self-talk that comes up is feeling like an imposter: "Who am I to tell people what they should do?" "What credibility do I have?" Self-doubt and second-guessing can rear their ugly heads quite powerfully to beat you back down into quiet submission. Instead, take a deep breath and take a small step toward sharing your talents with the world. You have no idea of the positive impact you could have on others once you make yourself known to them.

Even if you already know your area of expertise, these questions will only help you to clarify your purpose and vision for you and your goals. And once you do get that clarification, please start sharing it with the world! If you need a little help getting started with the sharing part, be sure to grab our free video series on "Your Energetic Elevator Pitch" now by clicking on the highlighted link. The series will help you distill your message to a few short sentences while maintaining it's clarity and impact.

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Personal Branding, Speaking Fear And YOU

Lily Iatridis — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:21:21 +0000

So now that we've got a clear idea of what personal branding is from last Thursday's article, how should we begin to think about our own onstage personality?

Just for fun, let's say that you've "arrived" as a speaker. You're that new super successful entrepreneur or business builder on the block. You've overcome your fear of public speaking to a degree where you're starting to feel comfortable and even enjoy being on the stage.

What are you known for?

Let's take a moment to visualize. Try to see yourself performing onstage. Write it down. What's the unique skill, knowledge or approach to solving an important problem that you have? You must see yourself communicating that clearly. But in addition to that, what's your personal style onstage as you visualize yourself? What are your favorite qualities about you? What is it about you personally or your personality that people connect to? How do others describe you as a speaker?

Are you more raw and open, like my description of Gary Vaynerchuk's style last week, or a little more reserved or dignified? Serious, or light? Once you've got a picture of yourself performing onstage, that can be your goal as a speaker that you'll reach someday.

How do you see yourself interacting with your audience?

This is something many people don't put too much thought into, yet it's a very important part of successful public speaking, especially now. More and more entrepreneurs are teaching teleseminars, webinars, or doing radio shows online. Audiences are commenting about you throughout your talk on social media.

What do you want your audience to be commenting upon or thinking about as they listen to you speak? Even if they appear to be passively sitting there, for example when listening to a keynote speech, remember, they are reacting to you and your words. What would you like that reaction to be?

What happens if you're not being yourself onstage?

Let's face it. Trying to be someone you're not eventually just gets utterly exhausting. Sure, when I first began my teaching career, part of me wished I could be that super fun, popular and highly entertaining instructor. But I had to admit to myself that if I tried to act like that every day, I think I would've been so drained that I would have had to quit my job.

Eventually I came to realize that I had my own unique skills too. For example, my students learned more in my classes. I had them think about and apply content to do more complicated problem solving with current issues of the day. We had some pretty interesting discussions. I didn't make them laugh all day, but I made them learn to be better writers. That's not a small thing.

My point is that there are many ways to get to the end result you want with your audience once you decide on that end result. You just have to find the way or style that suits your personality.

But please don't sacrifice your identity to fit into a certain mold of the type of speaker you'd like appear to be or emulate.. Remember, people connect with real human beings. For example, when I first started in business, I followed and was initially inspired by a number of people whom I won't name here. Unfortunately, as they evolved over time and their businesses grew to be very successful, their personalities — those human qualities that most attracted me to follow them began to disappear. They almost seemed to turn into a cardboard cutout of themselves right before my very eyes.

I was told that this is all part of the need to be distant in order to create a "perception of increase," but all I felt was a perception of increasing disconnection. I've since moved on to other people to mentor and guide me in my business development.

What are the first steps you take to help you start getting there and being yourself onstage?

Once you've visualized yourself onstage and have an idea of the type of relationship you wish to have with your audience, think about extending your energy when you're onstage. As Mike Michalowicz, the Toilet Paper Enterpreneur says, "be your EST," meaning being the best of who you are.

Do you remember when you had an experience where you suddenly realize that you've got the rapt attention of everyone in the room without even trying? That's an example of when you're extending your energy. What were you doing then? What were you thinking? What point were you making? How did you feel? Take note of those moments and think about recreating them.

True, many folks out there are still struggling to get past the initial fear of public speaking, but why not think of yourself as you would be onstage once you are past the worst of the fear? That's the endpoint to keep in mind to help get you there.

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Does A Speaker Need Personal Branding?

Lily Iatridis — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 10:36:03 +0000

First of all, what is personal branding, really?

Doesn't that sound kind of fake, like you have to put on some sort of an act when you go onstage?

Not a chance! No way. You must be your authentic self when you get on stage to speak.

Can you be? Continuously? Consistently? No matter how successful you get?

Is it possible?

The subject of personal branding came up this week in a conversation with my coach about professional public speakers that I found appealing and those I didn't and why. (For our purposes here, we'll define "professional public speakers" as business professionals who are well-known keynote or motivational speakers.)

For me, I'm attracted to speakers who seem more real– real people, who show their real personalities, who don't really seem to care as much about being picture perfect onstage as opposed to getting their message out to the world in a powerful and effective way.

But you've got to do it in your way.

That's how personal branding evolves. For example, I saw Gary Vaynerchuk give a live talk on social media at an annual business expo in New York last year. At one point, he stood up from his chair, jabbed his finger at the crowd repeatedly and screamed that anybody out there not using Facebook was an outright "A**hole!"

Now, being more of a low key personality, I don't see myself doing that with too much success. If many other speakers did that, I'd be taken aback, even offended, as I imagine many audiences would be. But when Gary Vaynerchuk made his outburst, I not only laughed out loud but found myself giving him a fist pump from the back of the room.

Why?

That's his personality. He's an especially colorful character from the area of colorful characters in which I live. I was familiar with him and what kind of presentation to expect, and he's delivered consistently. He's developed his own personal brand.

Personal Branding Defined:

"How you identify your personal qualities and how they are viewed by your audience….

The concept is broken into four elements. When these elements are integrated, they become your core message. Your core message is unique to only you and is valued by members of your audience.

Personality: Your behavior, interpersonal communication skills and attitudes toward your audience.
Appearance: Your body language, clothing attire and overall posture.
Competencies: Your strengths or special abilities.
Differentiation: What separates you from others and can leave a lasting memory in the minds of the audience.

The personality element is most prominent when you are speaking publicly to either a small group or large audience. When speaking in front of an audience, your credibility is at stake and you will be judged based on members from your audience. The only way to truly linger in the minds of your audience is through personality and in this way you need to use the differentiation element to stand out from the hundreds of other voices they hear each day. This is a great opportunity to use your core message, with emphasis on personality and captivating your audience through creativity, real life examples or quotes. There are many great and talented public speakers out there, all having exceptional Personal Brands."

~from the Study Guides and Strategies Website, by Joe Landsberger

So do we all need to find our own personal branding as a speaker now?

No. The personal branding evolves over time. First, develop the confidence to just be comfortable being onstage. As that self-confidence grows, your natural personality will emerge. That's what you'll become known for, and that will become your personal brand for which you'll be known. What's important is that you don't exhaust yourself trying to act out a persona onstage that simply isn't you. Be consistent with who you are.

No chameleons, please!

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Facilitate Audience Participation With A Small Group Quickly

Lily Iatridis — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 10:45:53 +0000

Before last week's articles about getting ill and needing to relax and enjoy your business, I gave a presentation to a small group of various non-profit consultants. I tried something I hadn't done in a while to get their to get their active audience participation quickly to help them get more out of the content and I want to share my results with you here.

My host requested that I give a presentation on the components of the elevator pitch or 30-second introduction. I recently created a free video series on the elevator pitch as a new opt-in for my visitors, and she wanted me to share the from the series content with her group.

Since it was a smaller group of professionals that knew each other well, we decided that after my introduciton and content presentation, we'd do some roundtable coaching. Everybody would share their elevator pitch as they normally did at their monthly meeting. This time as each person presented theirs, I'd offer a little bit of coaching or feedback to clarify their message, as needed.

Everyone in the group knew each other, right? They were a small, intimate group of longtime friends and colleagues.

Except there was one catch. Nobody in the room (except my host) knew me, or was comfortable with me.

Suddenly I realized that I was a new and unknown element thrown into the small group dynamic, in a position where I could be judging them in front of the rest of the group, and this lent some uncomfortable energy to the room. Whoops!

I was suddenly uncomfortable as I became acutely aware of the impact of my unfamiliar presence in this small group dynamic. I could see the apprehension in some of their faces, even though my host assured me that doing a round robin would be great for them.

Not that my host was wrong, let's face it, putting audiences on the spot to participate in front of a stranger can always have mixed results if you don't make them feel safe.

I knew that, but I had forgotten, because I was comfortable with them.

What to do?

Ask for volunteers and risk having no one respond or go around the room and call on everybody? I decided to go ahead and call on everyone round robin, meaning one after another around the dining table. The energy of the first three or four people who shared their pitches felt defensive. Even though their pitches were quite wordy, I attempted to get one person to simplify and clarify, but he insisted that his was fine as it was and didn't require any adjustment.

If an audience member is apprehensive about participating, move on quickly.

Finally, at about the fourth person around the table, I hit upon a professional who clearly self-confident but graciously asking for help on a particular sticking point in her pitch. No defensiveness whatsoever. Fortunately, at this point the mood of the round table coaching turned for the better and I was able to give feedback without a defensive reaction or apprehensive response. The rest of the group started to chime in with their own comments and feedback, and the last two-thirds of the round table sharing was lively, fun, and thoughtful.

Lesson to be learned: If a portion of your presentation is going to be heavily dependent on audience participation, be prepared for a mixed bag of results, and roll with it.

An alternative technique: Have some back up samples of elevator pitches ready for them to analyze and pick apart & discuss — completely non-threatening to the individual!

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Making Time For Yourself and Fun

Lily Iatridis — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 11:07:48 +0000

Allergies? Who– me? Pshaw! I'd never been allergic to anything in my life! I've sympathized for friends and many of my friends' children, but I've never had to bother with any of it for anybody in my family.

But just last Monday I had a nasty surprise.

I woke up and tried to open my eyes but couldn't. After a few seconds, I had to pry them open with my fingers. Why was my skin so soft and puffy? I got up and looked into the mirror. Whoa! My face was so red and swollen, I was completely unrecognizable. And it hurt like crazy! Thankfully, my husband immediately volunteered to stay home from work. Not only that, but my tongue was feeling a little thick too.

What on earth had happened to me?!

This didn't fit the diagnosis for shingles I got Friday night at the ER. Then, I'd had some bad pains in my neck that had developed into large bumps the size of hazelnuts. They gave me anti-viral medicine for the infection, percocet for the pain, and told me I was under extreme emotional stress because that's what triggers shingles.

Extreme emotional stress?? Really?

I knew I was pretty stressed out trying to do my regular weekly marketing activities, work with clients, and and implement all of my new projects I wanted for my business. I know I should hire help, but after four or five tries, in the last two years, I gave up. I knew I wasn't getting enough sleep, and I knew I wasn't as much of my own fun-loving self as I used to be for awhile — maybe a couple years, actually. Or perhaps three.

Maybe it was lack of exercise.

No, I had barely exercised in seven months. I was still going to the dojo, but I used to also lift weights daily, and jog a few miles 4x per week. And I considered that light. When I was single, I was at the dojo 4 days a week and did the additional cross training. I weighed the same as I do now, but I was two clothing sizes smaller. Now I move more slowly and clumsily. I'm much more stiff.

But here's what I'm seeing as the real culprit here….

Lack of daily time management skills!

I get all my work done and obligations met. But at what personal expense, I wondered? At what expense to my relationship with my husband? I'm not exactly the woman he married anymore. I had neglected to do something on a daily basis for a few years running– make sure I had some daily down time or fun time– for me. I don't like to go for weeks, months, and years rushing from one activity to another and another yet still, until I die. Life becomes too much of a blur.

Are you guilty of this? Working for the future, but forgetting to enjoy the present?

Finally, we got the appointment for a follow up with my regular doctor. The result? No evidence of shingles at all! Whatever I originally had, there was no evidence of it. But what was occurring now was probably a severe allergic reaction to the medication the hospital had prescribed, and it the swelling was starting to close in around my mouth and throat.

"Am I in some real danger here?" I asked my doc.

"Turn around and let me give you a shot, you'll be fine."

Whoa- major crisis narrowly averted! It makes you stop and think. How do you want to live your daily life? It would certainly be easy to go back to the usual too-busy pattern. The work and obligations will always be there.

Today I my forehead and ears are back to normal size, and I can actually feel a little cheekbone. On the mend! As for whatever initially struck last Friday evening, it's a mystery.

How do you balance it all, but with a good dose of good old fun in there- on a daily basis? I don't know my answer, but I'm having a conversation with The Mindset Maven about it tomorrow. I'll let you know!

The bottom line is you have find a way to enjoy the present time, even as you're planning and working toward the future. Otherwise, most of your life will just pass you by, and you won't notice or take pleasure in much of it.

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Public Speaking Fear: Making a Fool of Yourself

How to Enjoy Your Business Again

Lily Iatridis — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 10:00:06 +0000

This guest post was contributed by small business marketing specialist Bernadette Doyle.

Many entrepreneurs start their businesses with great excitement. They pour all their energy and effort into the business and make all kinds of sacrifices. But one day they realize that it just isn't fun anymore. Somewhere along the line all the passion and excitement about getting in new business has been snuffed out by all the work that is involved with it. Has that ever happened to you? Maybe if you are reading this, that's exactly how you feel right now. Maybe more than anything you just want to start to enjoy your business once again.

What went wrong?

My guess, if that's what you are feeling right now, is that you are spending your days doing tasks that you don't really enjoy. Perhaps you feel you are not very good at them. Perhaps you just find them tedious. Either way work has become a daily grind. The sad thing is that most business literature will tell you that sacrifice is part of being successful. That you can't always do the things you love or are good at. So you simply accept that that is the way things have to be. Before you know it your business is grinding to a halt because you have become so bogged down in accepting the suffering part of your job and there really isn't any enjoyment in it anymore.

I honestly don't believe that has to be the case. Why can't you spend your days doing what you love? Why shouldn't you enjoy your business for many years to come? If you are serious about wanting to enjoy your business once again you need to take some critical views of what you are doing. Analyze what you are doing on a daily basis. Write down a list of all the tasks. Then next to each one rank how good you are at it and how much you enjoy it. What it will probably show is that you are spending most of your time doing things you don't enjoy. Now you need to look at which of those tasks could be outsourced. When you start to get rid of the things that bog down your day you may feel that spring in your step returning. As you start to focus your time on doing the things you love what you are really doing is building on your strengths. When you do this, you can start to enjoy your business once again.

Why enjoying your Business is Important

• When you enjoy what you do you feel positive and energized. This energy is often contagious and attracts clients to you.

• When you are doing things that you are good at, you are building on your strengths. Your work is more rewarding and ultimately more enjoyable.

• When you enjoy your business your mind is more open to opportunities to learn and develop your business.

• A business should be about more than just making money. It should serve your lifestyle as well.

Don't think that because you run a business that it can't be fun. If you are investing so much time and effort into your business then you should be enjoying it. You give incredible value to your business. So in return it should serve you. Your business should give you the financial and lifestyle rewards that you dream of. Believe that business should be enjoyed.

Bernadette Doyle is a marketing specialist who helps entrepreneurs become client magnets and attract a steady stream of their ideal clients. If you'd like to receive invaluable tips and advice on how to attract clients with ease, register at http://www.clientmagnets.com

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Organize A Speech Fast With Specific Goals

Lily Iatridis — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 10:02:47 +0000

I'm giving a speech tomorrow to a brand new group of women belonging to an association for non-profit organizations. It's a small group, probably of about 15 people.

I've got a confession to make: I'm going to organize my speech content and practice it in my car during the 40 minute drive there. Truthfully, I'm really busy these days, and I just don't have a lot of extra time on my hands.

Now, mind you, I did get that long overdue trim at the hair salon last week. The outfit I'm wearing is cleaned and hanging in my closet, ready to wear. I also make sure I speak in public, either by teleseminar or to live groups a few times a month to maintain my skills. Last month I gave a teleseminar to a group of 170 multi-level marketers for Shaklee, this month I'm speaking to a couple of groups of around 20-50 people. I have to say that it's good practice to speak regularly with all types and sizes of groups, live or via telephone. The energy levels are different, and it's good to be comfortable swimming in all kinds of water, so to speak.

But the truth is, my host and I had discussed the duration content for my presentation weeks ago, so I was able to organize my speech in my head quickly a while ago. I had a clear idea of what the goals for my speech were going to be, and once I know those, the organization was easy.

I don't just decide on three or four topics to talk about for awhile until the time runs out. First, I decide on my professional goals for the talk, and then I decide on the learning content goals for my audience.

What do I want to get out of this speech for myself , my career or my business?

Defining your personal or professional goals is one big step toward organizing your speech. Do you want to improve your self-confidence and practice your public speaking? Do you want to position your expertise in your place of work or the marketplace as a whole? More specifically, are you looking to get some clients out of this talk? Do you wish to build your list? Are you seeking support for a specific project? It's fine to have several professional goals. By determining what you want to get out of your talk, you'll get clear on the call to action you'll be leading your audience toward.

As for the professional goals for my talk tomorrow, I like to speak in front of a live group at least once a month. Personally, I love the connection I feel with a live group, and I don't want to lose touch with that. Additionally, this is a new audience for me with a new potential path to clients to explore. Since they want me to speak about giving strong business introductions, the gift I'll offer is my elevator pitch video series, which will also opt them into my mailing list. I'll also seek out opportunities for more speaking engagements.

Do you consider these strategic goals for yourself as you organize your speech?

What content do I want to give to my audience, and how do I want them to think and feel about it?

This question relates to where you want to take your audience during the course of your speech. What do I want them to learn and experience during my presentation? How do you want to benefit your audience? Once you have your professional goals in mind, it's extremely important that you consider the experience you wish your audience to have, and how you're going to deliver that experience. Giving them valuable content they can walk away with and use easily is wonderful. But you have to be sure you deliver that content in simple, understandable messages. In other words, you must break down your content into small, achievable learning goals, and organize your speech content around those.

Take it from a former classroom teacher of 10 years. If you don't break the concepts down into their simplest parts and explain them clearly, your speech will largely fall on deaf ears. I learned a process to break down those concepts in a way that organizes speech content quickly to communicate powerfully, and I've used it for myself and my clients for about a decade. I'll be sharing that process on my teleseminar next Tuesday, March 29th at 8p.m. EST. Please join us by clicking here and registering for the call.

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We'll have more articles, but we'll go into the detailed how tos on our teleclass Tuesday, March 22nd, please read more here.

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Establish Your Speaker Credibility Quickly

Lily Iatridis — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 09:31:40 +0000

You're getting up to give a speech, and nobody knows you or has ever seen you before. How do you establish your credibility with the audience quickly?

Create the quantifiable result around your accomplishments.

Sometimes we don't realize how we can reorganize our years of experience into an actual quantity. For example, I worked as a teacher for about 10 years, but if I were to break that down into the actual hourly presentations I've made, that number is about 8,000. Wow- 8,000 presentations given? Or, I could consider the number of people I've worked with over the course of ten years to teach them the skills they need for success. I had about 150 students a year, so that would about 1,500 people or clients, prior to going into business on my own. Do you see what I mean? The quantifiable result doesn't always have to be focused around money earned. It's really about what you've done in your area of expertise.

Additionally, this can be incorporated into the bio that listeners receive about you in the monthly newsletter announcing you as the next guest speaker, or perhaps in a printed version visitors receive on a card of flyer at the beginning of the live event. If someone else is introducing you, craft an introduction for them that includes your quantifiable result. The quantifiable result is a strong credibility factor, and it should also always be incorporated into the opening section of your live talk.

Share client stories and case studies with dramatic (and true) results.

The more dramatic the result, the better. Better yet is the client story can incorporate a try quantifiable result too. For example, a 20% increase in monthly sales, as well as personal happiness works very well! Freeing someone to follow their dreams and find contentment is always lovely, but if it also led them to the poorhouse, that may not make the best impression on your audience, and they might ask about those results. I would, and I ask my clients the same to make sure they've done so in their talks. This quantifiable result makes people see the results you offer your clients.

The more dramatic the story and quantifiable, the better, but again, it doesn't always have to be around a specific amount of money earned. For example, one of my clients gave her very first signature talk last week, and 40% of the audience signed up for a strategy session with her. Her self-confidence soared and instead of being afraid, she's now eagerly looking forward to booking her next speaking engagement. Now, the group she presented to was 20 people, and she got 8 sign ups, but that's still a great ratio. More important was the fact that her attitude toward public speaking shifted in a huge way.

I'm sure you have quantifiable results in your client stories, but you may not realize it! I didn't realize mine at first, until a business coach pointed them out to me and taught me to see them for myself — as I hope to do for you now.

Here's another: I worked with my client Rodney to write a two day workshop based on his one-on-one coaching method, and he was hired by three companies in three different cities to teach the course to their entire sales staff. Just one of the workshops paid him three times what he paid me to put the content together for him.

Have confidence that you know your stuff, and know it well.

If don't really have a strong depth and breadth of experience in your area, your audience will nail you. I will nail you. I don't like to have my time wasted by folks who do little more than blow smoke out of their rear ends. Do you? Frankly, I gently do this to my clients as part of their speech preparation. I asked them to elaborate on a point, explain to me how it all works and fits together, and I ask for practical clarification if it's all too technical or "too woo-wooey" as my client Christina used to complain. If you've got real expertise, then you should be able to answer those questions. Make sure you ask yourself the same as you're preparing your content.

Maintain a physical posture as if you know your stuff. You must appear as confident as possible, or your audience might decide that you lack credibility at the first glance! Remember your "It" factor. The saying "fake it till you make it" doesn't work with regard to knowing your purpose, but when it comes to giving an appearance, it does come in handy. Remember, act like you belong.

In aikido, I've always been told to develop my "mental aggression," since I was a small woman and my natural disposition is largely a laid-back B type personality. If you're more of a quiet, laid back personality, think about developing your proactive "mental aggression." It's an attitude I learned to activate daily in order to control my classroom, manifested in physical posture, tone, and momentum during my presentation.

What if someone asks you a question and you don't know the answer?

First, make sure you've understood the question clearly. Paraphrase it, and ask for clarification. Are they asking about something that occurred or developed over a particular period of time? Then answer the question based in your expert experience.

But sometimes, I'm asked questions where I don't know the answer. For example, even though I'm a public speaking coach, my area of specialty is in helping people with their content delivery and self- confidence. I sometimes get asked questions about accent reduction and vocal strength training. I have no specialized training in either, and I have no problem saying so, because those are out of my expertise within the realm of public speaking coaching. In fact, I actually get vocal training from Ingrid Saxon, who's helped me learn how to relax and use different muscles when I struggled with repetitve bouts of laryngitis.

Do you see how I just used the opportunity to clarify my range of expertise and show confidence by referring you to another expert in my industry?

Never try to fake knowing an answer. Someone else in the audience will, and they will know that you're wrong, or they'll look it up later on the internet. That's one way you will discredit yourself completely.

Don't forget or underestimate what you know!

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